Image: Photography: Nathan Sixsmith Photography.
BY EMMA DAVIES
IMAGE Resources’ $235 million Boonanarring mineral sands project is a hive of activity; first shipment of 10,000 tonnes of heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) was achieved in January, with the company now well-placed to capitalise on rising zircon prices.
The 100 per cent owned zircon-rich Boonanarring project is considered one of the highest-grade mineral sands projects in Australia.
It has been an interesting project to watch over the last few years, in part due to its fast timeline to production brought on by a series of transactions with Murray Zircon in 2016, including the acquisition of key plant infrastructure.
In April/May 2018, project funding was finalised and construction began in earnest.
Following a six-month construction period, Boonanarring was commissioned in October-November 2018, and the planned six-month production ramp-up period began in December.
The production ramp-up at Boonanarring was aggressively scheduled to achieve an ore processing rate design capacity of 500 dry tonnes per hour in six months.
But production rates during December substantially exceeded this with the company achieving first shipment and revenue on 14 January.
The payment for the first shipment was secured under a life-of-mine offtake agreement with Shantou Natfort Zirconium and Titanium Co (Natfort).
Reflecting on recent achievements, Image Resources managing director Patrick Mutz said production to date as “remarkable”.
“While the challenge of ramping up the ore processing rate to nameplate capacity and achievement of steady state operations is still in front of us, the achievements of completion of construction and first HMC production on schedule provides confidence that the remaining development hurdles will be cleared,” Mr Mutz said.
With processing rates continuing to exceed budgeted rates, Image Resources was building HMC inventory levels for a second shipment scheduled for mid-February.
The company remained committed to completing its key project development milestone of achieving positive project cash flow at the end of the first quarter 2019 – and if the current processing rates were anything to go by this target was in sight.
Mr Mutz praised the teamwork leading up to the first shipment.
“The operating group, spearheaded by Todd Colton, COO and David White, operations manager, has delivered on another very significant milestone for the company, being completion of the first bulk shipment of HMC and receipt of first revenue,” Mr Mutz said.
“I want to thank Braemar, WA Mercantile and Qube Ports & Bulk for their valuable contributions to our first shipment, and our offtake partner Natfort, for working with Image on what has been a tight schedule during the end of year holiday period – we look forward to developing a routine nominal monthly shipping schedule to support our aggressive mining and processing schedule.”
First Boonanarring HMC being loaded for transport to storage near Bunbury Port. Image: Image Resources.
A Positive Outlook
Figures from the WA Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety put the State’s mineral sands sector sales in 2016-17 at almost 1.4 million tonnes of material, valued at about $554 million.
While titanium materials (ilmenite, leucoxene, synthetic rutile and rutile) were mainly produced, Australia was estimated to have the world’s largest reserves of zircon – with 48 million tonnes, or about 64 per cent of the world’s total estimated reserves of 75 million tonnes.
Zircon prices increased 37.3 per cent from 2016/17 to 2017/18 and were forecast to climb over the next four years due to a predicted shortfall in zircon supply out to at least 2022.
This underpinned predictions of strong zircon prices at current levels or higher for the foreseeable future, meaning there was a strong market outlook for zircon in the medium term – with Image Resources’ Boonanarring project set to benefit.
The company’s Boonanarring and undeveloped Atlas deposit represented a total resource of 32.3 million tonnes at 8.1 per cent heavy minerals, with the intention to mine the deposits at a rate of 3.3mtpa over a projected 10-year mine life.
In its September quarterly report, the company said its benchmark zircon price to be used to price Image’s HMC product, increased by 12 per cent to $US1625 per tonne (middle of range).
“The price in China for Tronox Limited’s premium grade zircon price is even higher at $ US1645 per tonne (middle of range),” the company stated.
Wet Concentration Plant Civil Construction. Image: Image Resources.
Future Focus
With a long-term vision for Boonanarring, the company was in discussions with two landowners regarding access agreements for delineation drilling over the 2.6km northernmost section of the extension of the high-grade Boonanarring deposit.
If approved, this would have positive ramifications for the mine life of the project; and the economy of the local community.
To date about half of site-based personnel had been recruited from within the shire of Gingin and surrounding areas and the company had been successful in attracting a team of experienced people to the project – successfully taking the Boonanarring project through the commissioning process to full production.
There will also be potential employment opportunities for local workers with Sunrise Energy Group entering into a binding Heads of Agreement with Image Resources for 3-4MW single axis tracking solar farm located next to the Boonanarring mine.
Sunrise Energy Group would build, own and operate the farm on land leased from Image Resource and was expected to provide about 25 per cent of the required electricity for the mine on an annual basis.
The farm would be about 20km north of Gingin, adjacent to the Boonanarring mine and processing facility and connected directly to Image’s embedded electrical supply network in a “behind the meter” configuration.
Image Resources was also exploring potential expansion of the Atlas deposit, which contains a probable 9.5 million tonnes at 8.1 per cent heavy minerals.
The south extension of Atlas was on freehold land and and was being tested with a 34-hole drill program which could lead to a link to the Woolka targets in the South.
The company was primarily focussed on exploration activities and increasing the overall life-of-mine around the Boonanarring and Atlas deposits.
And with the favourable infrastructure of the North Perth Basin, along with an amenable local community used to major mineral sands players like Iluka and Tronox, Image Resources has a promising future ahead.
